I just bury the old Camaro, not to praise
in the past years, I had the chance to drive a variety of powerful and skilled-fifth people on and off the track, including the powerful Z / 28. None of them never struck me as most interesting or pleasant than their equivalents Mustang or Challenger same. At best, the old Camaro was an ugly car that could really do the business on a race track. At worst ... well, it's what you see here.
I had to make a trip to Rapid week in California recently and Hertz happened to be offering "Chrysler 0 Convertible or similar" for the same price as an Impala. This seemed to be obvious - after all, the first thing Ohio hicks like me want to do when we get to the best side is to drop the top. California native only real use their hoods at night and in very rare circumstances. These are tourists who find cloudless view of a sun in November to be sooooo fascinating.
When I arrived at the airport, I saw that I had been "upgraded" to a Camaro. This presented some problems. The trunk in the Camaro convertible is absolutely tiny, even with the top up. My only Samsonite suitcase was a tight fit and penetrated into space that would be required would I want the full outdoor experience. I also had trouble getting my crutches in the back seat.
Oh well. At least, I should potent GM V-6 pushing me along. Well, coupled with the automatic equipped for this rental car, the V-6 that is such a pleasure in the old FWD Impala wheezing and feeling overloaded. Certainly, if you push the pedal to the kickdown it will take a breath, audible wake up, and howl at redline at a rate somewhere between "I-4 Camry" and "Camry V-6." But there's nothing sporting sense on how six goes about his business ,. And self-reported 20.1 mpg on the highway 420 mile-mail was not exactly exceptional, either. You can get that kind of mileage motorway from a Mustang-powered Coyote.
You can select the speed of your choice, of course, either by pressing the paddles on the steering wheel or by pushing the shifter past "D" to "M". (You'll do it accidentally about half the time, by the way, until you become completely used to the idiosyncrasies of the shifter.) The problem is the consultative process feels commander; it is not uncommon for the car to wait almost a second before agreeing to pass in your preferred direction. Work shifts, when they arrive, are long and languid. This is not a PDK Porsche or even an old Tiptronic.
I was told by people who should know that the stick-shift V-6 Camaro coupe is actually a pretty decent way to get around. Some of this must be due to the absence of the ugly automatic transmission, but the incompetence of the Camaro platform as a convertible should be the main factor. My rent was only California 11,000 miles on it, but he shook his wheel in my hands on every major bump. On the floor whoops it was not uncommon for the shock to one of the four corners of simply down to send another unpleasant shiver through the entire frame of the car. This is even with the top to , mind you. The level cap moved in this particular example of modern Camaro convertible would not be out of character for an old droptop Fox Mustang.
A quick run down of a two winding lanes near San Luis Obispo showed at least the brakes were up to repeated hard slowdowns. The grip, too, was remarkable and progressive, as long as you were not working too hard suspension. In this regard, the Camaro was like an old Grand Am GT holds the road like hell until there is a ripple in the pavement. Credit ridiculous wheels twenty inches for those two qualities. Visually, they are a great fit for aesthetic full size increased and folded which has survived almost intact from the car of the original show. Dynamically, they are a mess. Consider running an obstacle course while wearing ankle weights and you'll get the idea.
The interior, often criticized as the weakest part of the fifth generation car is not really helped by some contrasting color leather on the dashboard and seats. There are four gauges on the center console that are almost invisible in most conditions and so far from the line of vision of the driver that their reading is likely to trigger an alert in the Mercedes-Benz "fall asleep" monitor, were such unit to be equipped with a Camaro, which will not be until the federal government makes. Do not worry; you can configure the central LCD screen in the dashboard to show you the pressure or oil temperature, if you are worried.
There is also a lap-timer function, which seems a bit cruel in this rather inept, poorly fed, convertible cowl shake. I do not use. I made uses the stereo, which is labeled "Boston" in the old font that should appeal to vintage car enthusiasts stereo, but that sounded both muffled and distant regardless of the source. On the positive side, the iPhone integration is remarkable, for you ladies who use Apple phone - but no amount of fussing with the equalizer could produce a reasonable sound quality. It was a little better at listening to the FM radio, but how many times are you in 2015?
After a few days with the now obsolete Camaro, I came to understand that his true vocation was, in fact, as a rental convertible. Chop the top of this platform deprives the dynamic that really merits its own advantages over the Mustang and Challenger. It is a sterilization of all kinds, taking the vicious Z / 28 and reduced to this lethargic barge. But as a means for two couples to shop around in California with the top down, it is adequate. Just like a Chrysler 0 was
There was just one little problem :. Summit would not go down. It reported a variety of issues, most of which seemed to be related to the fact that the incredibly fragile cargo cover in the trunk has not been properly fixed. After twenty minutes of poking and fussing, I just let it go and decided to use it as a cut. This meant that I would have been better with an Impala after all.
The new Camaro is already public. If you order a Camaro at your local dealer today, you will have the new model, not this lash-up. I'm not the new Camaro driven yet, but I am told it is much, much better, especially in the V-6 variants and top people are actually buying. That's a good thing if the new Camaro is much better than this one. He must be.
0 komentar